Workshop participants shared their visions, memories, thoughts about Puerto Rico in poems written in response to Roxana Perez-Mendez's complex and beautiful art. Perez-Mendez is Puerto Rican and her video installations at Taller Puertorriqueño embody the artist's own fears and hopes for the island. The show closed March 25.

Through the end of February and the month of March, Artblog has been hosting free Look/Draw/Write Workshops in partnership with Taller Puertorriqueño; we are trying to show the fun in writing about art! Our first three workshops have been discussing the work of Roxana Perez-Mendez at her show Quien a buen arbol se arrima. We’re very proud of the wonderful work by our workshop participants! These are the poems written in response to her work. Join us on April 22nd and 29th for two more free workshops studying Michelle Ortiz’s show, Quizás Mañana.

Poems by Participants in the Look/Draw/Write workshops at Taller Puertorriqueño

“Exile is a dream of a glorious return. Exile is a vision of revolution: Elba, not St Helena. It is an endless paradox: looking forward by always looking back. The exile is a ball hurled high into the air.”
—Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses

From the island of your ancestors
To the city of your dreams
You travel each year,
Several times a year,
Once each generation.

On the deck of the New York and Porto Rico Steamship,
Rocked by the waves,
Through groups of happy tourists,
Around lonely, silent migrants,
You weave your way,
In and out of view,
Present, yet absent,
Your skirt short,
Your skirt long,
Your blouse white,
Your blouse blue,
The scarf on your head
Short and black,
Frayed and grey,
The shawl on your shoulders
Familiar and warm,
Or borrowed brand-new,
The bag on your arm
A refugee’s shapeless sac,
Or a stylish weekend bag

I see you,
Others can’t.
They claim you are the same,
One who appears, disappears,
Is barely there,
An elusive presence,
An old memory,
A longing for the past,
An embodiment of Roxana’s nostalgia

For the island,
For familia, tostones, arroz y habichuelas,
For rum and merengue,
For risas, amigos, amantes,
A mere figment,
A trick of virtual reality
Superimposed on an old photo
But I know you,
Mujer,
You are not a phantom,
Your name changes with each trip,
Your dress is different each decade,
But in each crossing,
You stand firm
In the front of the deck,
Pulling the scarf around your shoulders,
Looking out to the mainland,
Your gaze firm on your dream,
Embracing the unknown,
Your corazón de mujer, constante.

Lilvia Soto

“Discover Puertorriqueño” and a tourist video from the 1960s is part of Roxana Perez-Mendez’s installation, A Quien Bien Arbol, at Taller Puertorriqueño. Photo by Rafael Damast